Bechtolsheim (Literally Bechtol's Home) is an Ortsgemeinde – a municipality belonging to a Verbandsgemeinde, a kind of collective municipality – in the Alzey-Worms district in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany. It belongs to the Verbandsgemeinde of Alzey-Land, whose seat is in Alzey.
Geography
Location The municipality lies on the Selz, which here snakes along the Petersberg (mountain), at whose foot the municipality is found. The nearest towns are Alzey, with its dual administrative functions of district and Verbandsgemeinde seat, and Wörrstadt, roughly 10 km away. The state capital of Mainz, 30 km away, can be reached most quickly on Autobahn A 63.
As a winegrowing centre, Bechtolsheim lies in Germany's biggest winegrowing district and in the middle of the Rheinhessen wine region.
The municipal area covers 1 065 ha, of which 300 ha is planted with grapevines.
Neighbouring municipalities The municipality's nearest neighbours are Biebelnheim (1 km) and Gau-Odernheim (1.5 km). After these come Gabsheim and Undenheim. With Weinolsheim there is a common municipal limit, but aside from paths across the countryside, there is no road link.
History
New Stone Age
In the early 20th century, at what are now Bechtolsheim's limits with Biebelnheim and Gabsheim, a stone axehead from the New Stone Age was found. On 7 February 1962, a skeleton was discovered in the form of a seated burial.Steinzeitliche Siedlung in Bechtolsheim? Funde aus der Jungsteinzeit.
Roman times Four Roman villas have been unearthed. Coins from Marcus Aurelius’sStreiflichter aus der Geschichte der Gemeinde Bechtolsheim and Constantine the Great’s time with Emperor Licinius’s effigy, a coin of Roman Empress Faustina, a little clay lamp with the potter's mark Attus-a and a waterpipe, which could be Roman, have been found. It is hence plain to see that settlements had arisen here by the time between AD 260 and 400.Karl Oberle, Geschichte von Bechtolsheim, S. 7
First documentary mention Bechtolsheim had its first documentary mention in 766 on the occasion of the donation of a vineyard to Lorsch Abbey.Information plaque on a ridge of the Petersberg. There the year 767 and, wrongly, "Lorch" Abbey are named. At that time, the village was variously named Bertolfsheim, Bertolvesheim and Bertolfesheim. In 793, it was called Beralfesheim, in 798 Beratwolfesheim and in 800 Badolfesheim.Karl Oberle, Geschichte von Bechtolsheim, S. 14
On 25 December 1250, King William II of Holland moved into Bechtolsheim “with great magnificence” and took up positions with his troops against Conrad IV, whose armies lay near Oppenheim. At the time, the place belonged to Werner IV of Bolanden, who had taken William's side.Karl Oberle, Geschichte von Bechtolsheim, S. 22 He was, however, vanquished by Conrad, and could only avert the sacking of his villages by ceding Bechtolsheim and Mommenheim to the Hohenfels sideline.Josef Rick, Die Weinbaugemeinde Bechtolsheim, in der Festschrift zum Feuerwehrfest 1972
Bechtolsheim Freedom Letter and the time of joint holding The Lords of Bolanden ceded their economic estate to their Hohenfels sideline. A further mention of Bechtolsheim is to be found in the Bechtolsheimer Freiheitsbrief (“Bechtolsheim Freedom Letter”) from Philip of Hohenfels the Elder in the foundation certificate of the joint holding, or Ganerbschaft, from 15 November 1270.Karl Oberle, Geschichte von Bechtolsheim, S. 89 f. Joint landholders in this arrangement, besides the Barons of Dalberg and the Chamberlains of Worms, were the Barons Knebel von Katzenelnbogen, Mauchenheim called Bechtolsheim, the Barons of Dienheim, the Counts of Hallberg, the Barons Sturmfeder von Oppenheim, the Barons of Wallbrunn and Count Beckers von Westerstetten.Josef Rick, Die Ganerbschaft Bechtolsheim, in: Heimatjahrbuch des Landkreises Alzey-Worms 1971, S. 10 Appearing for the first time about 1407 was a Wilhelmum de Mauchenheim d[ictum] Bechtolsheim, that is to say a “Wilhelm from Mauchenheim called Bechtolsheim”.
Up to 17 knightly families were resident in the village. In the end it was ruled by fewer noble families, namely von Dalberg, Nebel, Knebel, Beckers, Dienheim, Nordeck, Wallbrunn, Partenheim and Quernheim.Karl Anton Schaab: Geschichte der Stadt Mainz Band 4, 1851, Geschichte der Großherzoglich Hessischen Rheinprovinz mit den Kantonen Alzei, Bingen, Osthofen, Pfeddersheim, Wöllstein, Wörrstadt und Worms For the building of the Muttergotteskirche (“Mother of God Church”, the one mentioned earlier, used as a “simultaneous” church), Popes Nicholas IV in 1292, Boniface VIII in 1313 and Benedict XII in 1341 published letters of indulgence, which can still be found in the church archives, and which show that half a century was spent building the church.
It was given the name of the great Mother of God Church, Ecclesia Major, B. M. V. (for Beatae Mariae Virginis, or “of the Blessed Virgin Mary”). It had many endowed altars at which the nobles exercised the right of presentation.Stephan Alexander Würdtwein: Dioecesis Moguntina in Archidiaconatus distincta, 1767 The resident and regional nobles chose it as their burial site.
French Republic to German Empire Between 1792 and 1814 Bechtolsheim belonged to the Department of Mont-Tonnerre (or Donnersberg in German). Thereafter it was briefly ruled by the “Imperial-Royal Austrian and Royal Bavarian Civil Administration of Kreuznach”, and then from 1815 by the Grand Duchy of Hesse in the newly created province of Rhenish Hesse (Rheinhessen). On 28 September 1896 the railway station on the Alzey–Bodenheim line was opened. On the night of 1 August 1904, the village's belltower next to the simultaneous church burnt down after a lightning strike. The permanent water supply through watermains was ensured in 1906 with the Wasserzweckverband Rhein-Selz-Gebiet (“Rhine-Selz Area Water Purpose Association”), founded with neighbouring municipalities. After the First World War, Bechtolsheim belonged to the People's State of Hesse beginning in 1918. In 1937, the Province of Rhenish Hesse was abolished, and until the end of the Second World War, the municipality belonged to the district of Oppenheim or Alzey.Rudolf Flick, 1792 - Beginn einer neuen Zeit, in 400 Jahre Rathaus, S. 70 On 20 March 1945, towards 16:00, United States troops occupied the village.Rudolf Flick, Die Gemeinde Bechtolsheim nach dem Zweiten Weltkrieg, in 400 Jahre Rathaus, S. 71
Rhineland-Palatinate and Federal Republic of Germany At first Bechtolsheim belonged to the French Zone of Occupation and there became, as part of the Regierungsbezirk of Rheinhessen (Rhenish Hesse), part of the new state of Rhineland-Palatinate in Alzey-Worms district. With the creation of Verbandsgemeinden in Rhineland-Palatinate in 1969 and 1970, some of the administration was yielded to the Verbandsgemeinde of Alzey-Land.
Religion As at 31 December 2008, among inhabitants whose main dwelling is in Bechtolsheim, more than 53% are Evangelical Christians and more than 26% are Roman Catholic. More than 16% have no religious persuasion. The rest of the inhabitants, roughly 5%, are split among various religious affiliations.Municipal statistics at 31 December 2008
Both Christian denominations are equally entitled to use the simultaneous church. The Catholic parish belongs to the Catholic Deaconry of Alzey – Gau-Bickelheim, in the Roman Catholic Diocese of Mainz, while the Evangelical parish belongs to the Evangelical Church in Hesse and Nassau. The Evangelical parish office in Bechtolsheim also oversees the parishes in Biebelnheim, Ensheim and Spiesheim. The Catholic parish belongs, together with Biebelnheim to the Gau-Odernheim parish office.
From the 18th century through to the mid-1930s there was a small Jewish community. For institutions the Jews had a synagogue or prayer room which is believed to have been set up in an existing building in 1845, and which served as the Jewish community's religious centre until some time between 1900 and 1910. Owing to the sharp drop in the Jewish population the synagogue was closed, and in 1925, the run down building was torn down in 1925. As well as a synagogue, there were a yeshiva and a mikveh. The dead were buried in the Jewish graveyard within Gau-Odernheim's municipal limits on a ridge at the Petersberg (mountain).
1804 39 Jewish inhabitants 1808 12 Jewish households 1824 66 Jewish inhabitants 1830 66 Jewish inhabitants 1855 80 Jewish inhabitants 1861 46 Jewish inhabitants 1900 19 Jewish inhabitants 1905 19–20 Jewish inhabitants (1.8% of a total population of 1134) 1924 16 Jewish inhabitants 1933 10 Jewish inhabitants After 1933, almost all the Jewish inhabitants either pulled out or emigrated in the face of systematic stripping of their rights and reprisals.Jüdische Geschichte und Synagoge auf alemannia-judaica.de
Population development The figures for the number of inhabitants whose main residence is in Bechtolsheim, each time at 31 December unless otherwise stated, is as follows: 1815: 879Bevölkerung von 1815 bis 1987 1835: 1,383 1871: 1,174 1905: 1,134 1939: 1,185 1950: 1,432 1961: 1,385 1970: 1,407 1972: 1,426 1987: 1,394 1991: 1,396Ernst Walter Görisch, Verbandsgemeindeverwaltung Alzey-Land, in 400 Jahre Rathaus Bechtolsheim 1492–1992, S. 74 30 June 2005: 1,480 2005: 1,462 2006: 1,501 2007: 1,543 30 June 2008: 1,551
Politics
Municipal council From the first election on 15 September 1946, the council was made up of 15 council members. Since 1989, that number was raised by one. Moreover, there is also an honorary mayor who serves as chairman.Bechtolsheimer Gemeinderat
The municipal election held on 7 June 2009 yielded the following results:Kommunalwahl Rheinland-Pfalz 2009, Gemeinderat Municipal electionof SPD CDU FWG Total 7 June 2009 6 3 7 (FWG Bechtolsheim) 16 seats 2004 5 2 9 (FWG Bechtolsheim) 16 seats 1999 ? ? ? 16 seats 1994 ? ? ? 16 seats 1989 ? ? ? (WG Oehlhof) 16 seats 1984 ? ? ? (WG Oehlhof) 15 seats 1979 ? ? ? (WG Oehlhof) 15 seats 1974 ? ? ? (WG Oehlhof) 15 seats 1969 4 3 8 (WG Oehlhof) 15 seats 1964 ? ? ? 15 seats 1960 ? ? ? 15 seats 1956 ? ? ? 15 seats 1952 ? ? ? 15 seats 1948 ? ? ? 15 seats 15 September 1946 ? ? ? 15 seats
The number of council members between 1919 and 1946 was as followsHans Lehn, Verzeichnis der Mitglieder des Gemeinderates von Bechtolsheim in den Jahren 1919–1992 (bei Beginn der jeweiligen Wahlperiode), in 400 Jahre Rathaus Bechtolsheim, S. 84 f. 1919–1922: 12 members 1923–1926: 11 members 1926–1929: 12 members 1929–1933: 11 members 1933–1945: 14 members (two members were excluded in July 1933 and replaced by others) 1945–1946: 9 members (as municipal committee) Between 1919 and 1936, there was each time one municipal deputy, whereafter there were always two.Hans Lehn, Verzeichnis der Ortsbeigeordneten von Bechtolsheim in den Jahren 1919–1992, in 400 Jahre Rathaus Bechtolsheim, S. 83
Mayors In the time of joint holding (Ganerbschaft), there was a so-called Schultheiß (roughly, “reeve” or “sheriff”). The following list is incomplete:Karl Oberle, Geschichte von Bechtolsheim, S. 60 f. Nichel Radan and Conrad Stantharte, about 1300 Johann von Bechtolsheim and his brother Wilderich, about 1350 Thomas Kempe, 1487 Thomas Cemppe, 1488 Groll, 1593 and 1595 Wilhelm Ungeradt, 1610 Joh. Schumann, 1628 Philipp Nau, 1699 Johann Fischer, 1705 ? Schmidt, 18th century ? Theis, 18th century
From 1798, Bechtolsheim belonged to the French First Republic and more specifically to the Canton de Wörrstadt in the Arrondissement communal de Mayence (Mayence is the French name for Mainz) in the Department of Mont-Tonnerre (or Donnersberg in German). Between 1798 and 1814 there was therefore a maire (French for “mayor”). After being assigned to the Grand Duchy of Hesse, the municipal head was ever after a Bürgermeister (German for “mayor”).Rudolf Flick, „1792 - Beginn einer neuen Zeit“ in: 400 Jahre Rathaus Bechtolsheim 1592–1992, S. 67 ff.